The Rose and The Thorn
by Vaidhra
Summary: My plan was falling into place ever-so-nicely…All except for a certain pesky assassin that insists on getting in the way of me achieving my dream! He should have known not to make an enemy of me…Me, Delilah Copperspoon, the rose with a huge dream. After all, Daud is nothing more to me than the annoying thorn in my side. I will destroy him, if it's the last thing I do…


**Author's Note: **This story **contains many spoilers** from "The Brigmore Witches," and "The Knife of Dunwall" mission, **"The Surge."** This story also **contains spoilers for one of the possible target eliminations** in "The Brigmore Witches" mission, "**Delilah's Masterwork**." I strongly advise against reading this story if you **have not**completed the DLCs. So, I just want to note that I created this short story for my English class (thanks to my incredibly awesome teacher for letting me write a fanfiction!). Also, I just want to note that this story has absolutely no relation to my project, _Blood and Coin_. This is my take on "The Brigmore Witches" canon story/ending. So, if you're anxiously waiting for Arissa to show up at any moment, I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you. Finally, as usual, thank you for any reviews, follows, favorites, and views. Please enjoy _The Rose and The Thorn. _:D

* * *

I sat upon my painter's stool, with nothing more than the dull moonlight illuminating my studio, as I finished creating my masterpiece. The masterpiece that would achieve my ultimate dream. The masterpiece…A portrait of the soon-to-be-Empress Emily Kaldwin the First.

_How are you going to achieve this dream, Delilah? It's only a matter of time, now. Daud is coming for you. He's already taken ship to get past the quarantine lines. He's traveling up river to your manor…to Brigmore Manor. _

The corners of my mouth twitched. "Yes…I know that Daud has his precious ship. He's onboard _The Undine_, that wench Lizzy Stride's ship."

_And do you really believe you'll have this ritual complete before he arrives? Do you honestly believe he'll find mercy for you in his shriveled heart? You should know better…_

With each brush stroke upon the canvas, my hand began to tremble. It was shaping up to be a long night, but I _needed _to complete this painting, this masterpiece. The fate of my dream depended on it.

_Deep down, you're afraid of him._

_And you have every right to be._

"No, no, Delilah," I chided myself. "That old fool won't stop you. Marked by the Outsider or no, Daud still has to get through your followers, the Grave Hounds, and the statues…Surely one of them will find him, before he finds you."

_Oh, Delilah, stop fooling yourself. You know that's impossible. Daud's a legend for a reason. And what are you? You were a nobody back then, and you are a nobody still. First, you were a playmate to Jessamine Kaldwin when you two were mere children. Then you were a kitchen apprentice at _Empress _Jessamine Kaldwin's Court, in Dunwall Tower. Afterwards, you were Anton Sokolov's apprentice, in his circle of painters. He recognized you for your talent._

"But it was always _my _paintings that could reach to the spirit, not _his!_"

_Finally…Do you honestly think that your coven of Brigmore Witches will be enough to stop Daud, the Knife of Dunwall, and his gang of assassins, his Whalers? They, too, share in his power, just as your Witches share in yours…_

"_No!_" I cried out, the paintbrush in my hand nearly snapping as I clenched it tightly. "Daud will not take this away from me! _I will be Empress!_ _Me! Delilah Copperspoon!_ The Outsider has given me stronger gifts than Daud, and the Outsider takes more interest in _me!_"

I heard the Outsider laugh, deep in the back of my head. "_Believe what you will, Delilah_," he said. "_I am rather enjoying this little conversation you're having with yourself. You poor little girl…Does the Knife of Dunwall have you afraid?_"

"I am not afraid of him!" I snarled.

_Denial. Sweet, sweet denial. That, right there, is the telltale sign that you are afraid of him, Delilah._

"_You can be certain that Daud isn't afraid of you,_" the Outsider chimed in."_If he was, I don't think he would have tried so brutally hard to find you…_"

"No…" I murmured. "It's so close, now…I cannot fail. I _cannot _fail!"

"_Perhaps you'll succeed, or perhaps you won't. Either way, I will be watching this spectacle with…unusual attention._"

I sighed, and took a deep breath to calm myself. To steady my trembling hand. The painting was nearly complete. Soon, I will perform the ritual.

And soon…I, Delilah Copperspoon, will be Empress to the Empire of Isles!

I laughed. Oh, dear, sweet little Emily Kaldwin…How I cannot wait to be looking out at the world through your beautiful brown eyes. How I cannot wait to be sitting in your skin, wearing your face as a mummer's mask. Those Loyalist fools…They think they will be crowning you, but oh, no, dear, sweet little Emily…It won't be you they'll be crowning.

I will control you. Your breath will be mine. Your fears will be mine…

_All of this is pleasant and all…but why are you wasting your time with this? You know you still have that pesky assassin and his thralls to deal with._

I took another deep breath, and focused on the painting. The representation of Lady Emily Kaldwin was looking _perfect_. And I needed it to be perfect, in order to use it in the ritual. I'd even found the perfect spot for the ritual…inside of the Void itself.

I had painted a portal into the Void. And it worked. Ever more fortunately, I'd found the perfect little spot in there. I would perform the ritual in the Void, and I would be undisturbed as I made my walk into dear, sweet little Emily's flesh.

I scoffed. I had nothing to be afraid of. Daud is nothing more than an old, foolish man. His men aren't as loyal to him as he likes to believe they are. After all, all I had to do was whisper false words into his lieutenant's ear, and it was enough for Billie Lurk to betray Daud in my name.

Oh, how that plan had been _perfect_. But no. Overseer Hume had to be overly ambitious, and attack early, without the others from the Abbey. If only that idiotic Overseer had followed _my _orders. If only everything had gone according to plan! Daud would be dead, his corpse rotting in the streets, and Lurk would be in full control of the Whalers. Then, everything would have been ever so _simple _to achieve!

But no, of course it couldn't be…Nothing is ever so simple to achieve.

I should have known. I should have known that if you want something done, you can only trust yourself to do it…especially when relying on the Overseers.

_Oh, Delilah…More fearful thinking? Daud already knows that lesson. Why else do you think he's coming after you directly? You angered the wrong man this time. Turning his apprentice against him…indirectly slaughtering his men in their home. You do realize that each and every one of his Whalers are like children to him? He sees himself as their father, as well as their Master, and he will do anything to protect them…_

_Maybe you should start praying to a higher power…_

_Because Daud won't show mercy to you._

The moonlight was fading fast. It was slowly becoming daylight. Yet, the painting was _finally _complete.

It was only a matter of time, now…He would be here soon.

The ritual _must be completed!_ Before he arrives, and ruins everything I've worked so hard for! Before he ruins everything I _deserve!_

I summoned one of my followers, Evie, to me.

"What do you require of me, my Lady?" Evie asked, ever-obedient.

I set down my paintbrush and stood up from my painter's stool. I went over to a small table and handed Evie a special lantern that I'd specially created to open my painting, my portal, into the Void.

"It's time, my dear sister," I said to her. "It's time for me to begin the ritual. To begin the walk into little Lady Emily's flesh. I will need you to seal me into the Void, once I walk through the painting. I also want you to place the lantern back up here, when you are done. We cannot have that old fool finding it."

Evie bowed her head and took the lantern from me. "As you wish, Lady Delilah. I must also commend you on the portrait of the young Empress. This is truly a masterpiece. Perhaps the finest painting you've ever created."

I carefully took the painting off of the easel. Evie and I teleported to the gallery room, where I had spent countless hours over the past six months perfecting the markings across every possible surface. The markings served a purpose, of course. They helped to create and power the portal into the Void. Everything had to be so meticulously done…One minor mistake, and it could spell disaster…

And no one wants that.

Evie shone the lantern over the seemingly blank canvas. Once the purple light danced across it, a painting of flags with the crest of a tree, blank canvases swirling around the painting in no particular pattern, and a large, swirling pool of magnificent blue energy in the center of the floor, appeared.

"I wish you luck, my Lady," she said. "We will stay ever-vigilant out here, in case Daud has the audacity to materialize."

I stepped through the painting, and made the leap of faith into the Void. I'd landed on the floating stones perfectly, and the masterpiece of Lady Emily was still intact. This part of the Void was beautiful. Contrary to beliefs, the Void was not black. It was shades of blue, both light and dark. In the plane I had chosen, a large oak tree resided in the center, with pathways leading through it and down into the ritual area.

I walked down the pristine white stone steps of the staircase, and into my ritual area. The ritual area resembled an old ruin. I had placed my statues all over the area, to act as a safeguard against intruders. By infusing them with my will, and with them being in the Void, they were immensely more powerful than in the mortal realm. I placed the painting of Emily Kaldwin upon the easel I had set up, and went about the area touching each and every statue, to activate them. I felt their power pulsating, and knew they were now my sentinels once again.

I smiled. Everything was falling into place with perfection.

I walked over to the pristine white stone altar in the center of the area, and began to make my final preparations for the ritual. I placed fresh paints on my palette, and took my second specially-made brush from its protective covering. I had created two of these brushes, and they were ever-so-dear to me. The bristles were made from the hair of Emily's very scalp.

_Oh, Jessamine…You should never have given that dressmaker in Draper's Ward a lock of your daughter's beautiful hair. You should have known that one day; someone would use it against her…_

After I finished readying my palette, I checked the incantation for the ritual one final time. I had to make sure I remembered everything I needed to remember. If I somehow failed this ritual, then I could end up trapped in my own painting. And I didn't _want _that.

Finally, I lit the many, many candles on and near the pristine altar, sighing contentedly once I did so.

It was finally time to begin the ritual.

I picked up my palette and brush, and walked over to the painting. There were a few touchups that were to be done, to begin the ritual.

With each flick of my wrist and each stroke of my brush, I called out into the Void, "Emily Kaldwin, daughter of Jessamine Kaldwin, heir to the Empire of Isles. I call out to you, from the depths of the Void!"

Another flick, another stroke. "I call you with ochre, from Morley! I call you with carmine beetle shells! I call you with Serkonan Lazurite! I call you with Viridian bile!"

Yet another flick, yet another stroke. "I tempered the tones of your flesh with Pandyssian chalk. I created this canvas with the very same loom that spun the fabric of your dresses. I created my brushes with the hairs of your very scalp."

One more flick, one more stroke. "Emily! You cannot ignore me, dear child! My well of power is too deep. My reach is too long."

I could feel as the magic began to swirl in the air. I put the palette down on a small table near the easel, and slowly walked back towards the pristine altar, the magic of my paint trailing behind me with every step I took.

I gripped the magic tight in my hands, and began to swirl it about in the air. The Void around me began to grow darker, and darker, and darker, as I manipulated the magic of my paint.

"Brush touches paint! Brush touches canvas! Brush touches Void!" I cried into the Void. "I see you now, Emily Kaldwin! I am breathing your breath. I am feeling what you do. The bright mornings in the Hound Pits Pub, and the bite of the cold night air, in the ruin where you sleep. I can smell the stink of the river!

"Image strikes the eye! Eye touches the mind! Mind touches the Void! I can feel your love for Corvo Attano, the one you call your father. I can feel your love for your lost mother. I can feel your love for your caretaker, Callista Curnow. I can feel your fear in the night. I can feel your hunger to learn. To become someone important! This is my hunger, too!

"You are becoming mine, dear child! We are nearly finished! Close your eyes, Emily! Close your eyes and sleep forever! Feel the Void open beneath you! Make room for me, and give in to me! Give in to me, now, Emily!"

I cried out in agony and shock, my magic suddenly dropping from me. There was blood, _my blood, _dripping down my right arm, my blade arm, and onto the soft grass. I looked at my arm, and noticed the black, steel crossbow bolt that was lodged perfectly in my arm, protruding through the front and back.

"I know you're here, Daud, you coward!" I yelled. "I'm not afraid of you, Mouse of Dunwall! Show yourself!"

Daud and two of his assassins transversed onto the ritual grounds, their simple, yet elegant, blades drawn. My arm was shaking. _I _was shaking with rage. The ritual was almost complete! _How did he get_ _through the portal!?_

His two assassins…Their odd industrial uniforms were bathed head-to-toe, in blood. Wet, sticky, and still drying blood.

Of course…they cut a bloody swath through my followers. Such a pity…Some of them would have been useful to me, when I become Empress.

"Mouse of Dunwall, is it?" Daud said. "Delilah, I would have expected a better insult, coming from you."

I tried pulling the crossbow…_wristbow _bolt out of my arm, but it only resulted in me trying to mask my pain. "I'm…surprised at you. I thought for certain I would see the Lord Protector pop up at the last minute. But no…Instead, I get you and your louts."

Daud smiled wryly. "I've been told we have a tendency to do that."

"Didn't your mother warn you to never make an enemy of a witch!? You can't possibly be doing this for Emily! It's because of _you_ that her mother is dead. It's because of _you _she was sold to a bunch of murderous crooks. After what _you've _put that child through, do you honestly think she's _fit _to be _Empress!?_"

"You're not exactly fit for the throne, either, Delilah," Daud retorted coldly. "Did you think turning Lurk against me was a good idea? Did you think that trying to kill my Whalers and I was a good idea?"

"I…I still blame the zealots for that. But I know one thing for certain…And that's that Emily Kaldwin will have the mind of Delilah the First, who did not inherit everything she got…but came to power through the sheer force of her own will. Her own _genius!_"

Daud laughed. "Your "will and genius" couldn't keep us from reaching you, Delilah. And it won't save you, now."

I teleported myself out of the way, just as Daud rushed forward, slashing at me with his razor-sharp blade. I drew my own blade, cringing at the effort. The wristbow bolt was buried in deep, and I was lucky to be holding my blade. With my free hand, I summoned a vine out of the grasses of the Void, to try and ensnare Daud and his Whalers.

While they struggled against its pull, I animated my statues. _You damn statues! Why didn't you warn me they were here!?_

"What's the matter, Daud!?" I taunted him. "Can't fight off a measly little vine!?"

He laughed. "And what of you, Delilah? Are you afraid to fight the "Mouse" of Dunwall?"

One of his assassins scored the killing blow on the vine, and they turned their attention to the mass of my clones…and me, of course.

"Lurk told me all about your self-doubt, Daud! Your complete lack of conviction!" I yelled back at him. "Poor, poor Daud! As it turned out, his shriveled heart was made of glass, and all it took was a dead Empress to crack him apart, like a walnut!"

I tried to sneak up and backstab one of his assassins, but he transversed out of the way, and I ended up teleporting myself to keep my momentum from betraying me. He appeared behind one of my clones, and sliced it clean in half. It disintegrated into a pile of blackened ash upon the once beautiful grass.

"You're leader of the Brigmore Witches, the most powerful coven of witches Dunwall has ever known, and you can't come up with a better insult to throw at my Master?" the same assassin I tried to backstab said. He transversed out of the way of an attack, went behind the clone, and fatally stabbed it, but did not kill it. "You're pathetic!"

Then he finished it off with a shot from his wristbow.

"Oh, am I? And just how loyal are you to this "Master" of yours, hmm? Your loyalty to him is weak, just like his grasp of the power he's been given is weak!"

The assassin laughed spitefully. "If I wasn't loyal to my Master, I wouldn't be here, fighting at his side in order to destroy you! And every single one of my brothers knows that Billie was weak! We should have known sooner she'd betray us!"

"It wouldn't have helped you then, and it won't help you now! Because you won't take this away from me! You cannot possibly know what I have paid for this!"

I was running out of clones. Running out of time.

_No!_

_I will not let him kill me!_

_I will not!_

I summoned three vines, teleported myself onto the staircase above my painting, and used my casting hand, my left hand, to shoot thorns out of my fingertips. My arm was in utter agony, and I was getting weaker…

_I will not be defeated…_

_I will _not _be defeated…_

_I will _not _be defeated!_

"Alright, Delilah, I have a question for you," Daud said mockingly.

"Oh? And what might that be, exactly?"

"Are all artists narcissists, like you?"

I snarled at him, and shot more thorns out of my hand. They missed their marks entirely. I teleported myself back into the fight, immediately going after Daud.

"You do not _dare _insult my talent!"

"You insulted mine," he said. "I think that's fair."

His assassins focused on taking down my vines and my remaining clone. I came into contact with Daud, but his blade locked against mine, in a battle of strength. The agony in my arm was becoming unbearable. Daud saw this, and exploited it. He pushed me down onto the ground and tried to stab me, but he missed, as I had teleported out of the way.

The vines were destroyed once more, and my final clone had been slaughtered. His assassins came rushing at me, intent on taking me down.

"Stand down!" Daud commanded them. "This is my fight!"

They hesitated for a brief moment, but transversed out of the way as I tried to kill one of them.

"Calling off your dogs, are you? You cannot defeat me!"

Our blades locked once more, and we began to dance a grand dance together.

"I'll admit, you're persistent. But how long can you keep up our dance?"

"As long as it takes me to kill you!"

I kicked his feet out from under him.

And only then did I realize my mistake.

He had let me do that.

Daud had already regained his balance, and he pushed me back down onto the ground. He pinned me down with the weight of one knee, and I squirmed underneath him. I was about to teleport out from underneath him…

And that was when I realized my second mistake.

There was a reason he had only fired one bolt from his wristbow the entire time, and let his assassins use theirs…

"Sleep tight, Delilah," he said, and fired the sleep dart into my chest.

I lost consciousness instantly.

* * *

I groaned as I opened my eyes. The pain in my arm was unbearable, but the wristbow bolt had been removed. _Delilah, that's the only mercy you're going to get out of him_.

Dark realization came over me, and I started hyperventilating in fear, when I realized I was lying upon the altar. When I looked over at my painting…

"No!" I cried out, struggling to try and stand. I found that I couldn't.

Daud's two assassins were holding me down to the altar with their tethering magic…

Daud himself stood over me.

"No!" I cried out again. "Daud! You cannot do this to me! She…Emily took…my life!"

My painting had been changed.

And I knew, then, what Daud had planned to do to me.

"Please, Daud! Please!" I tried to plead. "I'll do anything! I…I won't…Please don't do this!"

He ignored my pleas.

_No! This can't be happening! This cannot be happening!_

"Paint flows. Blood flows. Life goes!" Daud called out to the darkened Void. "Out with the old! In with the new! You've lived in these bones long enough!"

The painting suddenly opened, becoming a vast, bright portal. The assassins stopped tethering me to the altar, and held on for dear life to the pillars they were standing behind. The painting created a void that was beginning to pull me into it. I screamed, grabbing onto the altar, and clinging for dear, sweet, beautiful life…

"You cannot…do this to me, Daud!" I screamed at him, grabbing onto his arm and trying to pull him into the painting with me. "If I have to go down, I'm taking you _with me!_"

Daud clung onto the altar with a lot more ease than I, and he used his free hand to punch my arm. I screamed in sheer pain and rage. I refused to let go of him. He punched my arm again, a lot harder this time, and I couldn't bear it…

I accidently let go of him.

And I was pulled into the dark void of the painting.

* * *

Nothing. There was absolutely _nothing _around me.

"No!" I screamed at the emptiness of the black void around me. "No! This was not supposed to happen! Outsider, you promised me this wouldn't happen!"

I was trapped in the Void…in both senses.

The Outsider appeared before me, dressed in his finery. His enigmatic smile was so pleased at my torment. Those black eyes of his stared down at me, and his smile widened even further.

And then he laughed at me. "_I never said such thing. I gave you my Mark, and told you how you use your newfound power falls to you, as it had to the others before you. With my gift, you chose to create your coven of Brigmore Witches. To try and turn Emily Kaldwin into your living puppet. I must say…I am simply…Oh; fascination doesn't even cover how pleased I am with this outcome. You made an enemy of the wrong man, Delilah. _

"_The great Delilah Copperspoon, the little girl from Dunwall Tower, the painter's apprentice, the leader of the coven of the Brigmore Witches…And you were defeated by Daud, the legendary Knife of Dunwall, leader of the mercenary assassins, the Whalers. No…Daud didn't defeat you. Not entirely. He trapped you inside of your own painting, which you should have hidden better. His Whalers found the painting to replace the one you created of Emily. You must be seething right now, are you not? This ending is so…poetic._"

"I demand that you release me from here!" I screamed at the Outsider. "You cannot do this to _me!_"

The Outsider laughed again. "_Can I not? I give my Mark sparingly, and I don't play favorites. I do nothing but watch, and see what you mortals do with the power I bestow upon you. It always proves so amusing to me, each and every time. This time, I can only say that you brought your fate upon yourself…And I will remember this moment, for all eternity._"

"Get me out of here!" I cried. "Please! I don't want to stay trapped here!"

"_You're a clever girl, Delilah. You'll find a way out…After all, how can you die in the Void? You'll have all eternity to find a way to get out of your own painting._"

The Outsider vanished before my very eyes.

I was so close…

How could this have happened?

"When I get out of here," I snarled aloud, "I will find you, Daud. And then I will do _worse _to you, than what you did to me…_I swear it!_"

After a few, long moments, I finally dropped down onto my knees, and sobbed.

_Who am I fooling, now?_

_I'll never escape…_

_There is no way out of here…_

_And now I will never become Empress…_


End file.
